1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus, an information processing system, a routing apparatus and a communication control method.
2. Description of the Related Art
A technology is known in which computing resources in a single computer system including a CPU, memory, I/O device, etc. are divided into multiple logical partitions in which operating systems are run independently. In a computing system provided with logical partitions, a basic program called a hypervisor for controlling logical partitions is usually run. A hypervisor assigns computing resources to the logical partitions so that each logical partition operates as a single virtual computer.
The technology for logical partitioning is used for purposes including implementing a multi-operating system in which multiple different operating systems are run in a single computer and running applications in parallel by viewing a single computer as virtual parallel computers.
In order to exchange data between logical partitions in a system provided with multiple logical partitions, a dedicated function for communication between logical partitions should be originally designed and implemented. Significant cost will be incurred in developing such a function. Since the above-mentioned approach will necessitate developing basic software (such as an operating system and a driver) and applications for parallel processing, using the dedicated communication function thus designed. This will increase burden on software developers.
For exchange of data between logical partitions, it is necessary to copy data from a memory space referred to by a logical partition to a memory space referred to by another logical partition. Therefore, there is a problem in that significant overhead is incurred due to the copying.